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FERTILIZER QUALITY HAS IMPROVED OVER TIME


Source: USDA news release

Chemical fertilizers have undergone significant changes in the composition and concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash over time. These quality changes mean that current fertilizers can be more effective than past ones, making it difficult to calculate the productivity of the agricultural sector from year to year.

To accurately account for the role of fertilizer in agricultural productivity, USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) researchers adjust for the changes in composition and concentration of fertilizer. They find that farmers used 2 times more fertilizer in 2021 than in 1948 when unadjusted for quality, and 2.5 times more fertilizer once adjusted for quality.

The trend of increased fertilizer use for both unadjusted and adjusted quality can be partially explained by relative price changes between fertilizer and other inputs, which prompted producers to increase fertilizer use compared with other inputs, such as land and labor.


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